This invention relates to safety razors of the kind in which a blade unit assembly is carried by a handle and includes at least one blade member with a cutting edge which is moved across the surface of the skin being shaved by means of the handle. A blade unit may be mounted detachably on a razor handle to enable the blade unit to be replaced by a fresh blade unit when the blade sharpness has diminished to an unsatisfactory level, or it may be fixedly attached to the handle with the intention that the entire razor be discarded when the blade or blades have become dulled. Detachable and replaceable blade units are commonly referred to as shaving cartridges.
There have been various proposals for mounting a blade unit on a handle to enable movement of the blade unit during shaving with the aim of maintaining conformity of the skin contacting parts with the skin surface during shaving. For example, many razors currently marketed have blade units which are pivotable about longitudinal axes extending parallel to the cutting edges of the elongate blades incorporated in the blade units. In WO 97/26119 and WO 99/04938, there are described safety razors with blade unit support structures which permit further freedom of movement of the rigid blade units relative to the razor handles. It has also been proposed to make the blade unit flexible between supporting points at its ends so that the cartridge can bow under shaving forces. WO 88/04980 describes another construction in which flexible blade elements are carried by a deformable foam block, but there is no separate handle as the razor is held by means of the foam block. In spite of these previous attempts, there remains a need for a safety razor with a blade unit which is able to conform closely to the skin contours during shaving.